The invention relates to a method for producing a semiconductor device, and to a semiconductor device.
The complex production methods for modern semiconductor components and circuits include a multiplicity of processes which on the one hand for design reasons, that is to say with regard to the geometrical arrangement of component regions formed by the respective processes, should be performed in a specific sequence and on the other hand must be performed or should at least expediently be performed at respectively specific process temperatures. Reliable production methods having a high yield have had to be developed with regard to the mutual optimization of these two requirements.
Elevated requirements are being made of the technology since it has become established practice to form essential functional regions of semiconductor devices not only in the first main surface of a semiconductor wafer but indeed also in the opposite second main surface thereof, and since especially particularly thin semiconductor components and circuits have been employed industrially on a huge scale and have therefore became an object of mass production. This involves for example IGBTs (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors) or freewheeling diodes, for applications at high voltages of hundreds of volts, and also integrated circuit arrangements including such components. In the production of such semiconductor devices, handling poses particular problems, as is known, from the standpoint of the low mechanical stability.
For handling thin semiconductor wafers, as an intermediate product in the production of semiconductor devices with a small active substrate thickness, there have been a series of proposals, including for example soldering on a carrier or sacrificial wafer for mechanical stabilization.
For these and other reasons, there is a need for the present invention.